The Case for Sabbaticals — and How to Take a Successful One

In her early thirties, Bethany was at a crossroads. After working for the U.S. government in Washington, DC, she’d been accepted into a PhD program in law in Australia, which she’d chosen in order to be closer to her partner. But when the relationship abruptly ended just before she enrolled, she felt as if the floor had dropped out from beneath her. This was on top of an already hard year: Bethany’s father had passed away several months earlier. Overwhelmed and disoriented, she worried that she had “lost the ability to appreciate joy in life.” But instead of seeking a different PhD program or a new job, she did something radical for a high achiever. She saved up for a year and then allowed herself a six-month sabbatical from work.

During this time, she volunteered and trekked in Latin America, visited friends, and walked the Camino de Santiago, a historic pilgrimage in Spain that spans roughly 500 miles. She emerged with a renewed focus and vigor. “It opened up my eyes about what I can do as a professional by giving me more confidence to try new things,” she said. “I always thought that the main goal in life was to get your ducks in a row, and now I’ve realized that there are a lot of different types of ducks and they can be in any f—ing arrangement you want.” She went on to join a firm dedicated to something she’d been passionate about in law school: California Tribal and American Indian law.

DJ DiDonna is a senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School and the founder of The Sabbatical Project.

The perspective shift Bethany experienced is common among sabbatical-takers. In my research with academic collaborators, interviews I’ve conducted with more than 250 people who have taken an extended leave from work, and my own personal sabbatical experience, I’ve found that their impact is nearly always transformative. People feel rejuvenated, with a sharper sense of their priorities, heightened awareness of their place in the world, and improved confidence, creativity, and physical and mental health. Sometimes they strike out in different directions, focused on new career goals and armed with the courage to tackle them. But just as often they pursue the same or similar paths with a fresh perspective and tweaked priorities. Whatever the specific result, sabbatical alumni universally describe their time off as a “peak life experience,” up there in importance with the birth of a child, marriage, or other life-defining event.

In an effort to encourage more people to pursue sabbaticals — and to reap the career and life rewards — I have spent the past seven years studying the ins and outs of successful sabbaticals. Here I’ll answer the most common questions about them: What distinguishes a sabbatical from a long vacation? Who takes them and why? What challenges must be overcome to do so, and how do you ensure a meaningful experience? (To share your sabbatical experience and be included in my research, take this survey.)

What Constitutes a Sabbatical?

There’s no universally agreed-upon definition of sabbatical, even among academics, where the practice originated as a way to learn about new fields of studies and to rest and recover. For our purposes, the definition is simple: an intentional extended leave from your job-related work. Some employers offer a formal benefit of paid or unpaid sabbaticals. But many people choose to take one without the promise or security to return to their same job or organization — or even career.

Other defining attributes include:

Duration.

Sabbaticals are measured in months, not days or weeks. Ideally, they run from three months to a year. Most folks I’ve interviewed said it took them up to eight weeks — much longer than they’d expected — to even begin to detach from work. As one operations manager who took a three-month stint abroad explained: “I had to be forcibly removed from access [to my work routines]. Only after enough time away from those patterns did the world suddenly feel so big again. And I thought ‘Oh my God, there’s life beyond work.’”

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Disconnection.

True sabbaticals require full disconnection from any work that is a part of — or even resembles — the taker’s prior job. (I recommend setting your inbox to autorespond to and then delete all messages during your entire time off.) That said, different types of work are allowed. For example, if you are a software engineer, you can remodel a kitchen, but tech consulting is a no-go. Further, sabbatical-takers should avoid actively searching for their next job. This is what makes the break intentional: Regardless of why you take one, it’s vital that, once you’re there, you commit to staying in the in-between. Ideally, a proper sabbatical also includes geographic disconnection: physically getting away — out of town or out of the country — for as long as is feasible. Distance makes it easier to break from old routines. “There’s something critical about…being in a new place where you don’t know the rules and the players anymore,” an attorney told me. “I felt like I was a different person living a different life.”

Who Takes Them and Why?

The sabbatical-takers I’ve studied are regular workers, managers, and executives who come from a wide range of industries and all over the world. They represent all age groups, from precollege gap-year-goers to those toeing up to retirement. The strongest predictor of whether a person will take a sabbatical is if they know someone who has taken one. However, around two-thirds of sabbatical-takers are also pushed into these breaks by sudden events in their professional or personal lives — often negative catalysts, such as a death in the family, a health issue, or a career crisis.

Of course, while anyone can benefit from a sabbatical, actually taking one remains a privilege. Few companies offer paid long-term leave, so the demographics of those who take them skew toward those who can more easily self-fund: college-educated, middle-to-upper-class individuals and their families.

When people decide to take a sabbatical, they typically have one of three goals in mind: to get things done, to answer big questions, or to recover from burnout.

The achiever.

In 2018 Aarti, a community-organizer-turned-journalist, was at a career high point, working as a national correspondent for NPR. There was just one problem. She had a story that she felt she “needed to tell in order to keep living”: the tale of her immigrant father’s wrongful treatment and imprisonment by the U.S. government in the wake of 9/11. NPR had a sabbatical leave program, and so Aarti took a break from her career to write a book about her dad’s experience. Published in 2019, it became a bestseller.

Aarti is a classic achiever. From the start of her sabbatical, she worked hard, isolating herself at meditation retreats and in a small cabin in the woods to plan and write. At the end of her time, she transitioned back into work, exhausted and uncertain about her future but proud of what she’d accomplished. From the outside, a journalist writing a book might not seem like a true sabbatical. But for Aarti — like many achievers — the turn toward a new personal goal, rather than a career-related one, was the key to internal growth.

Achievers approach their time off with a productivity mindset, focusing on what they get done more than how it makes them feel. They look to benchmarks — such as fluency in a foreign language, launching a minimum viable product, opening a community garden, or completing a set hike such as the Appalachian Trail — to confirm progress. And they emerge having accomplished something beyond their normal harried work to-do lists.

Their sabbaticals might not sound like fun, but I found that, from a well-being perspective, achievers come away feeling significantly better. Indeed, high-effort activities can be extraordinarily restorative. As Aarti explained, “Writing that book was one of the most emotional experiences of my life — akin to when I first looked at my newborn son.” The only regret she had was not taking a beat or two to rest at the beginning of her sabbatical, a common reflection among achievers.

The explorer.

From the outside, Paul seemed to be a typical consultant: whip-smart, comfortable in a host of business environments, overflowing with air miles. He’d worked for Bain & Company prior to business school and returned to the firm after graduating. At work, he didn’t come off as particularly adventurous or antsy to change careers, but he had a lot of questions about life’s possibilities. So every four years or so, in between projects, Paul would take extended breaks to test out potential paths for the future. During one sabbatical, he moved to his parents’ native Estonia for a few months to study the language and see how he’d fit in. On another, he tested out his long-held dream of running an eco-resort in retirement by working in the kitchen and shadowing the owners of lodges in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Big Sur, and Hawaii.

His endeavors made real what psychologists call “counterfactual thinking”: imagining an alternative to how things currently are. It’s one thing to wonder if you’d be happy as a teacher; it’s another to actually try teaching to find out. Explorers run counterfactual experiments. They enjoy the challenges of new experiences, learning more about themselves and confirming or dispelling notions about what they’d rather be doing. As a result, whether they make a big change or return to their routines, they feel more satisfied in their choices. Paul’s time as an explorer helped him hone his thinking and his skills in travel and hospitality, which led to a post-consulting career at Airbnb.

It’s worth noting that you don’t have to travel far to qualify as an explorer. Plenty of folks find ways to experiment with new futures closer to home by volunteering in their communities, trying new hobbies, or taking regional trips.

The burned-out.

Mary spent her entire career at a sports-focused nonprofit. The work was stressful but meaningful, so no matter how difficult it got, she soldiered on. A decade in, a board member suggested that Mary might want to take a paid sabbatical, supported by a local funder who understood the pressures of serving others for a living. After six months of preparation — clearing out her inbox and ensuring that her colleagues could cover her absence — Mary took the time off. At first, she was paralyzed by the lack of responsibilities and found herself continuing to do some work from home during her first week off. But once she was en route to France — with her laptop left behind at home — she finally began to relax. Two months later, she returned to work feeling reenergized and confident. She also realized that things needed to change in order for her to re-up her tenure as leader. Mary lobbied the board for a new executive hire to handle the increased workload she’d taken on herself as the organization grew.

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I talked to a number of people like Mary, who took sabbaticals to recover from or avoid burnout. My interviewees’ ailments included ulcers, chronic pain, and insomnia, with doctors diagnosing work stress as the cause. Their breaks involved activities that, as one interviewee put it, made them “feel human again.” For example, another employee suffering from burnout went camping to engage her “Neanderthal self: focusing on keeping warm, dry, and fed while enjoying the surroundings.”

Of course, time off isn’t the only answer to burnout — organizations have a role to play in fixing the underlying problems in their workplaces, too. That said, sabbatical-takers in this category agreed that the experiences provided a respite and helped them realize that they had been working in an unsustainable way.

If you recognize yourself in one of these archetypes, you can determine which sabbatical activities are right for you and what you truly need from your time off.

What Challenges Must Be Overcome?

If you work for a company that has a sabbatical program — particularly a paid one — taking time off is eminently manageable. What could be a risky career decision is instead part of company culture — and possibly lore. Unfortunately, this benefit remains rare. So most people believe taking an extended leave is out of their reach, no matter how alluring the idea might be. This belief comes down to two things: responsibilities and perception. Responsibilities are real and represent a tangible commitment. Your mortgage company doesn’t care that you’re on sabbatical, and family schedules can constrain possibilities. Perceptions can certainly feel real, but they are intangible and contextual: how you think about taking time off, as well as how you believe others will judge you.

Responsibilities.

The decision to take a sabbatical should not be made lightly. Most of us have obligations — professional, personal, logistical, and financial — that must be navigated before a long break is feasible. But you can bridge the gap between your routine life and your sabbatical through thoughtful preparation.

To start, you may not need to quit your company. Many organizations without formal sabbatical policies are still willing to make exceptions for their most valued employees — if they’re intrepid enough to ask. Less attractive options can also work for both parties, including taking unpaid leave, departing without a guaranteed position on return, or compromising on a later departure date to better fit business realities. If you’re worried about retribution for appearing less serious about your job, ask colleagues if they know of anyone who has taken leave before approaching your supervisors. And test the waters by identifying a proposed sabbatical date years in the future to give your team and company ample preparation time.

On the personal front, if you have kids, you’ll want to investigate schools in your potential destinations; if you have pets who can’t come along, long-term sitters. Subletting your home, putting large expenses on hold, and cutting off unnecessary recurring costs can help mitigate the financial burden. Even saving as little as 5% of your after-tax income over a decade, much like you would save for retirement, can result in a self-paid sabbatical of sorts, thanks to the magic of compound interest. (These are just a few strategies to consider; you can connect with sabbatical alums or others who are in the planning stages for more ideas and best practices at The Sabbatical Project and in LinkedIn and Facebook groups.)

Some of my favorite sabbatical stories come from people of modest means who were determined to make it work. One couple, both teachers, saved up for a decade in order to travel with their children from Arizona to the tip of Argentina — four people crammed into a 50-year-old Land Rover — on the cheap. The trip had such a big impact on the father that he quit his teaching job to start a small business restoring old Land Rovers.

Of course, there are many legitimate reasons not to take a sabbatical at certain points in your life. If you lack sufficient time or financial resources to fully step away from your work and routine life for months, you’d be better off postponing until you can fully commit. In the meantime, you can identify ways to take smaller breaks to help you recover more regularly. But know that these comparatively brief moments are not shortcuts to the outsize benefits around purpose and happiness that I’ve observed among sabbatical alumni.

Perceptions.

The psychological hurdles that sabbatical-takers must overcome fall into two categories: negative self-perception and fear of others’ judgment.

For many people, self-worth is linked to performance at work. That’s why our self-esteem takes a hit when we’re unemployed — even when it’s by choice. Even sabbatical alumni who enjoyed their experiences told me that they dreaded being asked “What do you do for a living?” during their time off, especially if they had left their jobs. One way to alleviate this feeling can be to adopt other work identities — for Aarti, being a writer, and for Paul, an employee at a resort. Others may choose to lean into the discomfort, understanding that difficult times disproportionately produce positive growth.

Another concern is how current or future employers (or even your in-laws) may view your sabbatical. This is not surprising when many organizational and national cultures reward a devotion to work. People are lauded for staying late at the office, being available on vacations, and generally prioritizing work over personal priorities. The pull to conform is strong, but there’s growing evidence that more people, including hiring managers, are beginning to view time off as a healthy choice or a positive sign of a thriving inner life, curiosity, and desire for self-renewal. A survey I conducted among Harvard Business School graduates 10 years out found that more than one-third had already taken a sabbatical, and more than 90% of those who hadn’t taken time off viewed extended leave-takers in a positive or neutral light.

One of the best ways to alleviate this worry is to find an exemplar: someone you admire who has taken a successful sabbatical. This makes it easier to envision yourself taking one. If no one immediately comes to mind, ask around, search your LinkedIn connections for those taking advantage of its “career break” designation, or post in dedicated forums on Reddit and Facebook. Once you find them, sabbatical alumni are almost universally helpful and passionate advocates for extended leave for others. This approach will help you to imagine your own career and life post-sabbatical, addressing — and potentially dispelling — your deepest fears.

What Makes a Sabbatical Successful?

A person will need different things from a sabbatical at different times in their lives, so it’s difficult to make broad recommendations. That being said, I suggest keeping four things in mind as you plan and execute a sabbatical.

First, you must set impenetrable boundaries around your time off. There will always be opportunities to check in at work or peruse LinkedIn to see what jobs are out there. But you might never get another uninterrupted block of time to focus on what’s important outside of your life at work.

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Second, get out of your head and into your body. Consider the first portion of your sabbatical to be a space for healing and restoration. Instead of immediately striving to learn another language or work on a startup idea, allow yourself some time to move your body (a multiday trek or yoga retreat, for instance) and work with your hands (maybe a ceramics or art class) instead. Prioritize getting into nature for long stretches and otherwise putting yourself in a position to be in awe of life again.

Next, prioritize spending your time on relationships. It’s no secret that strong personal relationships lead to happier, healthier lives and greater job fulfillment. Use your newfound flexibility to visit the people that matter to you on their timeline instead of waiting for your busy schedules to finally sync. And don’t forget to prioritize your relationship with yourself. Even if you’re partnered, make time for at least a weekend solo retreat, and find a therapist or coach who understands the issues that often arise surrounding extended leave to help you synthesize learnings from your sabbatical.

Finally, don’t stay out too long. Many sabbatical-takers, especially those between jobs, assume that they will have everything “figured out” by the end of their time off: a dream job identified or a big life change executed. While this is sometimes the case (remember Aarti?) more often a sabbatical is an essential first step to unlocking the next phase of your life. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. It’s OK to extend your sabbatical based on what you feel you need, but it’s better to reenter the workforce wanting more than it is to resent yourself for not completely transforming over the course of a relatively short span of your life.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

We don’t talk enough about how important it is to have the time and space outside of work to do what’s important to us. Despite all the talk about the Great Resignation, quiet-quitting, and work-life balance, many of our cultures loudly lionize — and reward — overwork: the CEOs who run multiple companies at once or the workers who sleep under their desks. Even when we’re given paid time off, we fail to take it: Almost half of Americans fail to take all their vacation days.* Leisure time used to be something to aspire to — the hallmark of the wealthy — but now the richest among us are the least likely to invest free time in leisure. But that story is beginning to change.

Younger generations say they value flexibility over compensation and purpose over prestige. And with the Covid-19 pandemic, the cat is out of the bag with the importance of flexibility for knowledge workers, as well as the reality that there are many different ways to get a job done, from many different places and time zones. We may be a long way from sabbaticals becoming the norm for all workers, but current trends suggest that we should be moving in that direction.

We shouldn’t have to wait for something to break to give ourselves permission to explore, for a little while, what makes life worth living. So allow yourself to briefly turn down the volume around boardroom logistics, quarterly goals, or team dynamics, and let your quieter voice emerge: What are things that light up your curiosity, either now or when you were younger? Thus far in life, what do you most regret not having done? Your answers can point you in a new direction. My research suggests that a sabbatical is more than just a long vacation; it’s an investment for a better life.

Editor’s note (Feb. 20, 2025): *This sentence and source link have been updated to reflect more recent data.